


Secret Weapon (For ZK Drabble Month Day 8: "Tiny Shivers")

by ZutaraRightsActivist



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:09:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27905011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZutaraRightsActivist/pseuds/ZutaraRightsActivist
Summary: Katara makes a discovery of a new ability, which leads to a different kind of discovery.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Kudos: 7
Collections: ZK Drabble December 2020





	Secret Weapon (For ZK Drabble Month Day 8: "Tiny Shivers")

**Secret Weapon - For ZK Drabble Month: Day 8 Prompt “Tiny Shivers”**

He shivers again. She shakes, pressing her lips together hard to stifle the giggle that rumbles deep in her chest.

He still doesn’t know.

In the short time since Katara was able to hone her bending to its fullest potential, she has discovered skills beyond her wildest dreams. She has stilled rain drops and harnessed their power to unleash her rage on the man who murdered her mother. She has frozen solid one of the most powerful benders in the world, leaving the deranged princess powerless on the one day in a century when solar energy would rage through the other girl’s royal veins like a wildfire. She has even learned to slip inside a person’s skin, bending those very same veins to her will, turning grown men into terrified ragdolls. She has become a living embodiment of the boundless power and versatility of water, of its many uses, both for good and for evil.

And yet it is this simple new skill she has developed on this one night, this tiny ability, that must be her favorite.

Sokka is going on about some new invention he’s been discussing with their father as the rest of their small squad of war heroes listens in. Supposedly, they’ve been utilizing some large contraption that allows the waterbenders sent from the North to work together to move large swaths of snow in one effort, which has really sped up the rebuilding process for their tribe. She sits around the teacup-strewn table, waiting for a moment to strike. She should be listening intently. Any other time she would be, but this new discovery is too delightful.

Toph is picking extra dirt from her feet as she sits next to Katara, using her well-developed sense of hearing to listen only for an opportunity to crack a joke. Aang sits on Toph’s other side, fascinated by Sokka’s description of the rebuilding process. Suki is seated next to Sokka of course, rolling her eyes at some of the water tribe boy’s more exaggerated bits. Katara doesn’t hear what Toph says as the diminutive earthbender finds her opening for her sarcastic remark, but she knows that opening has provided her with the perfect cover for her next indulgence.

Laughter breaks out across the room. Katara doesn’t join in. Instead she focuses, plucking some of the Fire Nation humidity directly from the air to coat her index finger in a smooth covering of ice. Quickly, with the same deft stealth she used when tracking down Yon Rha, she slides her frosty digit directly over the warm flesh of Zuko’s exposed neck.

A puny gasp escapes the teenage Fire Lord first, a sound he quickly stifles. The noise is followed shortly by a familiar vibration emanating through the rest of his body. Katara once again has to stop the laugh that has come roaring back into her throat.

Zuko scans the room, comically suspicious. The confused scowl on his face as he studies the rafters, looking up, down, and back again is enough for Katara to almost blow her cover. She watches her former enemy intently as he now pulls up his sleeves, examining the arctic hen bumps covering his skin but still unable to source them.

She always did have the upper hand in their rivalry, and with this newly discovered power, she doesn’t intend to give that up.

“Something wrong, Zuko?” she asks sweetly. He immediately looks up from his self-inspection to meet her gaze. The slight thought that she might be discovered crosses her mind, but he genuinely looks pleased that she asked, if not slightly embarrassed.

“I’m fine, Katara, I just keep getting the shivers and I don’t know wh-” he stops suddenly as the waterbender softly touches his back in a caring gesture.

Instead of simply watching, this time she feels the familiar quivering under her touch.

This time it’s not as funny, and in place of laughter she feels bashfulness rise to the surface of her cheeks.

This time she hadn’t plucked the water from the air, hadn’t frozen it, hadn’t committed her chilly prank.

_Oh._

The Fire Lord and the waterbender’s eyes widen in tandem, and they both quickly look away.

Katara’s heart beats wildly as she considers the idea that she and Zuko were on a more level playing field than she thought.

Still, she smiles to herself as she furtively readies another frozen poke - she has a secret weapon.


End file.
